1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a substrate inspecting apparatus, and more particularly to, a substrate inspecting apparatus to inspect a substrate to determine whether a printing operation is being accurately performed thereon, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat display apparatuses, such as thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) and organic electro luminescence displays (ELD), are generally provided with display panels on which images are formed.
A process of manufacturing a display panel comprises a printing process to form a color filter on a display panel substrate. Inkjet devices have been used in the printing process.
Using an inkjet device, ink to form the color filter is ejected from a plurality of orifices on a print head and then cured on a plurality of pixels formed on the display panel substrate.
A substrate inspecting apparatus may be used in the printing process to inspect colors and positions of ink printed on a transparent substrate.
A conventional substrate inspecting apparatus obtains images by positioning a printed transparent substrate on a white background inspection base and photographing it with a camera after a printing operation has been performed on the transparent substrate by the print head. Using images of the printed transparent substrate photographed in this manner, colors and positions of ink printed on the transparent substrate are inspected to determine whether the printing operation was performed accurately on the transparent substrate.
However, since this conventional substrate inspecting apparatus typically uses the white background inspection base to inspect the printed transparent substrate, the white background inspection base may be stained with ink during the printing operation. When the white background inspection base is stained with ink, exact images of the printed transparent substrate cannot be obtained in an inspection operation. As a result, precise inspection is not possible.
When using the conventional substrate inspecting apparatus, the printing operation and the inspection operation are performed separately, since the inspection operation typically must be performed after the printing operation has been completed on the transparent substrate. If the printing operation and the inspection operation are performed simultaneously, no separate inspection time is needed, thereby effectively reducing processing time.